Alberta Northern Lights Video Release

I’m excited to finally share Searching for the Aurora, a film I created with Jack Fusco and Travel Alberta. In just a single week, Jack and I barely slept while chasing stunning Alberta northern lights and Steve, the unique light pillar that’s been hanging around our night skies since last winter, across Kananaskis Country.

The project was fun to create and I’m happy to release it just as the Alberta northern lights season is kicking off once again. In just the past few weeks, the northern lights have been incredible. I just hope it continues throughout the winter, as there are few natural wonders more impressive to witness and photograph.

Searching for the Aurora

The Art and Craft of Capturing Alberta Northern Lights

Since I launched my photography business, I’ve talked about the art and craft of adventure photography. In my mind, the art being the finished product that the public most often sees. It’s the finished video, portfolio collection, or written story. The craft is how it was created, which is often emotionally important for the photographer, yet largely hidden from the public eye. More than any project I’ve worked on, Searching for the Aurora shows both the art and craft of night sky photography equally.

The art speaks for itself. Despite a week that Jack and I will always remember as dominantly cloudy and snowy, we captured northern lights above Mt Yamnuska; Steve, the peculiar light pillar, above the Bow River, and stunning Alberta northern light pillars dancing above our boreal forests. The craft is mixed throughout the video. We hiked through thigh deep snow at Mt Engadine and drove endlessly through Kananaskis Country looking for unique compositions and clear skies.

Throughout the entire trip, we consumed copious amounts of coffee. We didn’t sleep. During the night, we shot night sky timelapses that each take roughly two hours to capture. During the day, we searched for new locations and captured the behind the scenes footage that ties the video together.

We were exhausted when we finished, but we were excited to start editing these films. We worked with Travel Alberta to release them just in time to promote the upcoming winter in Alberta. If you’re in the area this winter, make sure to stay up late and watch the night sky. It’s magical.

To accompany our video release, Jack also produced Chasing the Aurora. It’s a two minute timelapse video to show off the epic night sky scenes we captured throughout our trip.

On it’s own, its an epic video. Paired with Searching for the Aurora, it shows our entire experience in a unique way.

Chasing the Aurora

Make sure to let us know what you think of both videos in the comments! If you like them, please share them with your social networks. Both Jack and I want people to see what we love about night sky photography and the Alberta northern lights.